1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system and control method thereof, and a storage medium therefor, that control a printing process and a bookbinding process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent times, office equipment manufacturers in particular have been reviewing potentials for making inroads into a new sector known as the Light Production Market, or the Print-on-Demand (POD) Market; see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 2005-165722 (document). In addition to examining market trends, such review involves a study of more precise performance, for example, a study of a printing apparatus or a printing system that is capable of being used in a POD framework that is envisioned as having an application or a requirement that differs from the application or the requirement of an office environment. Envisioning a printing framework within such a POD Market suggests that there will be an increasing focus going forward on the extent to which productivity is increased within the printing system. It is also probable that making the printing system easier for an operator to use, while maintaining strong productivity, will take on greater importance going forward.
For example, in order to make genuine inroads into the POD market sector, office equipment manufacturers in particular will need to respond to a circumstance that differs from the office environment, taking the POD market into consideration. For example, it is necessary to perform an adequate review in order to commercialize a practical digital printing system that is optimized for the POD framework, as disclosed in the foregoing document. When envisioning a goal of the commercialization of the practical digital printing system that is optimized for the POD framework, however, it is conceivable that an issue remains when using only an assembly that is disclosed in the foregoing document. For example, when processing a large-volume job, it is necessary to take into account improving efficiency and increasing throughput in order to use a plurality of accessories, i.e., finishers, in parallel to perform post-processing. It is also possible that finishing processing of a particular type that may be envisioned within a printing framework of the POD framework, which may include a case binding finishing process, may require a significant amount of time. When considering such a circumstance, it is conceivable that, when executing a job that requires the finishing processing of the particular type that may include the case binding finishing process, not all of an operational procedure of the job may be processed as a batch. That is to say, it is possible that an arrangement may be needed executing only a print job at a present time, and using the sheets of printing paper so printed to conduct a bookbinding at a later date. As of this writing, however, no consideration is being given to such a process.